Broken Images
by Frankie and Avery.dont ask
Summary: This is a series of ficlets that explore the development of Merlin and Arthur's relationship as Season 1 progresses. M/A. Slash. Rating will climb
1. The Vision

**Disclaimer: I literally have no money, so don't sue me. I am just borrowing the INCREDIBLE sexy epicness of Merlin (oh and Arthur too…). Starz Camelot owns them and whoever else. Not me!**

**So this little thing is going to be a series of ficlets that capture Merlin and Arthur's odd and budding relationship. Any slasher who has seen ever some of the first episode can see it, I'm sure. And because of how much I love Joseph Fiennes, it has become my slash ship for this universe. **

**No guarantee of how long it will end up. We shall see how long the show lasts I guess. Lol. (hopefully a Long time!)**

**So: Merlin/Arthur**

**Un'betad**

**Thanks for reading and on with the show…**

**The Vision**

"Who is she?" It scratched against my ears, the question, and pulled me toward wakefulness.

"Who is she?" I could feel myself turning toward the voice. Letting the dream slip away.

"Who is she?" It was gentler now. I opened my eyes and was greeted with the sight of Merlin's sharp stare in the semi-darkness.

He was so close to me. Too close. His hand was almost cradling my face, as though he'd been about to stroke my hair or had just done so. I jerked back and his voice grew harsh and ragged. "Who is she?" As though so much depended on my answer.

"I don't know." I admitted. "I don't know."

I stared at him, not understanding his urgency or his nearness or the strange light that glittered in his eyes. I was half sitting, leaning back away from him as he knelt over me on the bed. I tilted my head, narrowing my eyes in confusion, but refused to look away from his blazing gaze.

"Have you ever seen her before?" Less urgent, more desperate. Was it somehow for the good of the realm? Had he had a vision of the girl?

"Never. I don't know who she is. I swear to you, Merlin. I swear it."

The tension in his shoulders relaxed, sagging his body closer to mine. His eyes closed for the briefest of moments, before snapping open again. "Good."

I lay there, him kneeling above me, pressing so close, for several moments. I simply stared at him, blinking as little as possible, which is how I managed to see the flicker of his eyes to my mouth. It was the briefest glance, but I saw. I tilted my head more, this time intrigued, and moved a hair's breadth closer to him, drawn up almost against my will. His hazel eyes widened as he stared back, through me, into me, beyond me.

The door to my chambers slammed open and suddenly Kay was there, and the moment of whatever it was had vanished. I turned from Merlin's gaze. Kay frowned at us and I realized how very near we were. On my bed. "What's…Never mind. Arthur, you have to see this."

Merlin was away and off the bed in a moment. He buried his head into one of the chests he'd claimed were my father's. Kay left the door open when he turned. My wave of questions was stemmed when he drew out a fur cloak. The cloak of a King. I gaped at him.

"This belonged to your father." His little half smirk had returned and I understood that I would get no answers today. "And now it is yours."


	2. Betrayal

**Episode 2 spoilers (kinda)…**

**This is the first thing that entered my head, when I saw that Arthur had gone back to Guin after seeing Merlin with Morgan. But I'm posting an alternate version of this as an actual fic.**

**Betrayal**

The dream had returned, only this time it was a little different…I couldn't quite put my finger on how. I was hot and sweat and feverish when I awoke on my own, almost surprised not to find Merlin there, questioning me. I had a name now and a reason not to dream of her. Merlin was right. She belonged to Leontes. I tried to catch my breath, but it was ragged. I need to speak to Merlin. He would know what I could do to stop this. He would understand. Merlin would help, if only with his calm.

I rose, not bothering to put on anymore clothing than I was already wearing. He'd seen me in much less, when I was still splinted from the fall from the waterfall. I wrapped my arms around myself as I stepped into the hallway. I didn't know where his room was, but I assumed Morgan had put him near me.

I was almost shivering by the time I found a door ajar with light shafting through its crack. I sighed in relief and stepped up to knock, but noises from inside stopped me. There was a choked sound and then panting. I leaned around the door's edge and peered through the crack.

Betrayal spiked through me like a razor-sharp sword to my gut. Followed quickly by a white-hot gush of shame and jealousy that I could not quite push away. The thoughts that I'd been entertaining since…since the morning of the first dream…

No. If I wanted to be completely honest with myself, since I'd slammed the man to the floor with a knife at his throat and my body had pressed flush against his. These thoughts, clearly I was wrong. And I was ashamed. Here was Merlin…with my own sister. Half-sister.

I swallowed the vile words that threatened to interrupt them and turned away from the door. I would show Merlin. He couldn't just do this to me, without so much as a warning of their relationship. My mind was roiling with bitterness, but even in the midst of the jealousy and anger, I understood the absurdity of my desires and my anger.

Stalking back to my room, I packed as quietly as I could and left the castle. I was headed back to Camelot… and Guinevere.


	3. What I know

**Sorry this is kind of shit for character development. There haven't been enough episodes for me to really get into character for either of them. I don't think we've seen them develop enough to really know them. Also, Merlin is just too complex at the moment for a good capture and I think Arthur isn't complex enough….sigh**

**Not a JCB fan, but I love the Merlin/Arthur dynamic.**

**Spoilers for 1x04 – The Lady in the Lake.**

**Merlin**

I heard myself speak the words, but even as I said them I realized how much of myself I was revealing to this man…this Caliburn. _My King_. It was not the term used for address, or even of someone speaking to a person outside his kingdom. It was the possessive. It was a term of ownership. The tone of my voice clearly said, Arthur is mine. Mine: a king to be shaped, an ideal to be created, a boy to be made a man. Mine to do with as _I_ see fit.

I had said it to Morgan: I was not a King's prize. But she was right in what she said to Arthur. He was a sorcerer's figurehead, until I could make him otherwise. But he would always be mine to create.

I did not make the connection. Draw the line from fact A to fact B until Caliburn pointed it out to me. "Do you have family?" He'd said. "Just your king…" I could feel his words in my gut. A roiling, burning certainty that Arthur was everything. As the crown is all to Morgan. As battle is all to this swordsmith. So Arthur has so quickly become my everything.

Caliburn was correct. I have no family left, no wife or children. Only Arthur. Only my king. I shook away the despair that seemed to linger with that feeling. I am content with my purpose, my all, so long as I can control this magic that is within me. I cannot do to Arthur what I did to them.

What am I afraid of? I am afraid to lose control and kill again. This power is much like that which Morgan tries to rein. If the control is not perfect, the power rules the man (or woman). It destroys them. My control was not perfect with the swordsmith and his daughter; it was not perfect with my wife and baby girl. I will not let it lack perfection with Arthur.

I cannot afford to be less than perfect for him.

**Arthur**

I looked up at the unusual noise at the doorway. Merlin had returned. I stood to greet him, but the figure I was presented with was not of the strong-strided, prideful elegance I normally associated with the sorcerer. Hi s gait was slow and halting. His head was bowed and when he finally stopped in from of me, I could see his eyes with a dull, dead brown. Their normal fiery hazel was bleached with pain. A bruise blossomed across one half of his face and the way he was breathing let me know that his ribs were damaged somehow.

"Merlin. What happened?"

"It doesn't matter." He brushed aside my worry as though I had not right to feel it. Almost as though he had no right to receive it, but this was Merlin. He felt himself entitled to everything…didn't he?

"Of course it matters." I narrowed my eyes at him, but he refused to meet my gaze.

"Your sword." And, with obvious difficulty, he lifted it and presented me with the most beautiful piece of metalwork I'd ever seen.

The story of where he'd gotten it was as fanciful as it was untrue. Merlin may not have realized it, but I could tell when he was lying. His explanation of what happened with my sister, as absurd as her drugging him and tying him to a bed sounded, was true. This? This was not in the least bit true. I resolved to find out exactly what he'd done.


	4. Needs

**Spoilers for 1x05 "Justice" **

**The minute I saw these three scenes I knew I had to write this one from Merlin's POV. This was just a delicious episode, but it was sad that he wasn't in more of it. I will say that they are finally giving Arthur a little more complexity. However, the way he is suddenly not obsessed with Guin anymore is a little odd… Anyway. Can't wait until Friday's episode :D**

**Needs:**

"Arthur needs you. He needs you!" Igraine pleads.

Doesn't understand. No one understands. Arthur knows though. Arthur knows. When he needs me, I'm his alone. But he doesn't need me. Not now. Not yet. He doesn't need me. Hurts. Farce of a trial. Children's games. Too much to do. Shouldn't be worried about children and people. Focus. Plan…

…

More interruptions. More people. More nonsense. Can't think. Can't plan. Go away.

Footsteps never listen when you tell them. They never listen.

"Igraine was right." I knew I shouldn't have let _that woman_ in here. She'll tell the castle and then the whole world will be back in here demanding things of me. No time to think! Plans…

"An endless stream of visitors just when I'm trying to think." He bats aside my lament like a fly on a summer's day.

"Who else has been here?" But that isn't the point, is it? It's him. Always him. I could be in the center of a crowd of hundreds, and think perfectly well. I could take up the great hall for my notes if he were not there. But the moment he sets foot in my proximity… "You mean just me." He laughs. "An endless stream of me."

Exactly. I told her he understood…or maybe I didn't tell her, but it matters little. He does. He knows. He always knows and understands. But I can't think when he's here! My notes fall away. I can't remember what I was writing. But I continue scribbling nonsense, hoping he doesn't notice. He's examining my notes, questioning me, demanding things of me that I need to give him. All need. Always needs.

"What does it all mean?"

I can't tell him. I can't tell him the truth, but I never lie to Arthur when we are alone. I cannot look at him and know that I've betrayed him like that. So like with _that woman,_ I talk riddles to him. Because I cannot tell him yet. Not yet. "That just shows the first wave is ostensibly complete." Riddles and more riddles. I give him pieces and bits, bits and pieces…I'm losing it. Losing the future. Losing the flow to Arthur. I've lost everything to Arthur. He has all of me.

I distract him when I can't give away anymore of his life, my life, our life.

"How's your trial?"

"Will you come?" He won't see me, but is there anything else I can do? It isn't part of the plan, but it might change the future. I will see. I need to see. Needs again.

He's looking at me. Examining me, not like _that woman_ did, with the concern of a stranger. But like Arthur, with the familiar eye of one who knows what's inside my skin. He sees what _that woman_, what even Morgan cannot see. He sees what I need. "I'll be fine. Soon. I just needed…this."

He understands and yet he doesn't. His eyes are hurt that I will not explain, but the set of his shoulders says that he knows what I needed and is willing to let me have it. He smiles for the barest fraction of a moment and I know that it will revolve in my thoughts for much too long and take up too much time and there is too much to do and too much to plan, but I will think of it anyway. I know it. He looks me over one last time, checking with a glance just to verify my assurance. I am fine. He cannot give me what would fix this fastest…not yet.

"I'll be watching." There is an intensity when he returns my gaze, steady and direct, in the eyes, that I do not understand, but I think I might soon. He nods very seriously and leaves me to my revolving thoughts of plans and futures and things to be doing and him and needs. Always needs.

….

She's talking to me and I to her and I can feel the connection she is trying to form as though it were a thick rope wrapping around my neck. She is tending my cuts and bruises because she knows how and I do not need to be ill or infected when there is so much left to do, so I let her.

She turns my face and I can see that she plans to kiss me. Were she any other woman I would let her do it and then send her away with sharp and cutting words, the taste of my lips on her mouth and bitterness in her heart. It would keep her away. But not _this woman_. No, never her. I can see her son in her eyes and she is betrayal.

But she is Christian and would not understand. I have been alive too long for her God and her rules to affect me, but she affects Arthur. Arthur who is young. Arthur who is the once and future King. Arthur who will reign for a hundred, hundred years if I can carry out these plans. I see the ashes of that glorious kingdom in her eyes and smell the burning bodies on her breath and taste the destruction of the world in her without even touching her.

I cannot do it. I will not. I need to not do this. She _needs_ to understand. How can I make her understand?

"Everyone close to me gets burned!"

True enough, but not total truth. No one gets total truth from me. Even Arthur is still too young yet, too naïve, too trusting, and too hopeful yet for that. But soon. Someday soon. He will ask and I will answer.

Until then? I will not allow another moment like the drugged almost-encounter with his sister. I will not be the man who works his way through the Pendragon family. It is good that she's fled, leaving me with sharp words, but no bitterness.

The only Pendragon I need is Arthur. When he is ready. So close now…but still so much to plan…


	5. Misplaced Desire

**Spoilers for 1x05 'Three Journeys'**

**I thought their relationship needed to be stepped up just a little on Arthur's part. I also think that his lust for Guinevere is just revenge lust or something (or he so deep in denial he's substituting Guin for the real object of his desire, i.e. Merlin).**

**Also, I think Arthur's character is getting a little bit better. He's fleshing out, being more King-like. But he still irritates me and I still think he's not up to par. Or at least up to Joe Fiennes Merlin anyway. Also Guin's a bitch and she's a whiny, vain, self-centered bitch at that. I don't like her. Morgan is infinitely better. Anyway…**

**This deviates from the concrete facts of the episode, but I think it does it in such a way that it can still work with the next episode (form the previews) but I guess we'll see. They're still not on the same page, but they're getting closer. :D**

**Enjoy and review! ^.^**

**Misplaced Desire:**

"A place to think" Merlin smiles at me, an actual smile that slips quickly back into his usual smirk, and I remember what Igraine has told me about why he'd shut himself up in the bowels of the castle. What he'd said to me about the space he needed.

I smile back. I should have been there, with Kay and Merlin to go home. To see my parents house. What they'd done to it, the barbarians. But I hadn't been, because of Guinevere. Always because of Guinevere. Everything was always because of Guinevere. I could feel my good humor slip away, as the girl in question tried to catch my eye. I ignore her, focusing on Merlin, on the books, on anything but her or Leontes. I shouldn't have kissed her. I need to get her out of my system. She's already fallen out of my mind, but my body still hasn't caught up. I need…I need to talk to Merlin.

I give the orders for our control to spread eastward and explain to Merlin my new plans for the roof of the Great Hall. I see Guin smile to herself, no doubt thinking that the idea was inspired by our conversation. Of course, she does. It's actually connected to something Leontes told me when they arrived back, about what Merlin had said of his magic. Elemental. Well, if he needed the elements to feed his magic, I'd give them to him as much as I could. The only problem with the lack of a ceiling would be the rains, but everything in the Great Hall was made of stone. The throne, the tables, the benches. Everything that isn't easily moveable.

He claps me on the shoulder and smiles again. Something is different. "I like that."

After a moment, I stop, forcing him to stop too. "Merlin, may I have a word?"

He turns to look at him, frowning briefly, and shrugs. "As you wish, Arthur."

Kay grins at me and leans over. "Leontes has taken to calling him an angel. I thought that might amuse you."

This statement confuses me. I frowned at Kay, who laughs and continues down the hall. What had I missed that prompted Leontes to call _Merlin_ an _angel_? We walk together back to the library and I close the door behind us.

I turn back to Merlin. "Angel?"

Merlin looks at me in surprise and then burst into laughter. "Yes, apparently Leontes thinks that my magic is a gift from God."

"Ah." I smile. Leontes would think that. My smile slips away as I remember why I wanted to speak to him. "Merlin…I…"

The mirth vanishes from his feature and he's frowning again. "What have you done now?"

"I…" I turn to the bookshelves and run my eyes over the titles. "I know that you helped Uther…have Igraine and I was wondering—"

"No." I turned back him, frowning at the sharpness of his tone. "I will not help you lure Guinevere away from Leontes. That _woman_" He wrapped the term in scorn and spat it into the room. "will destroy you and I will not help her do it."

I shook my head. "That is not what I was planning to ask you."

He cocked his head to the side and examined me. "What then?"

"I…well…I understand, in my head, that whatever we thought we had is over. That is was wrong in the first place. That it never should have happened. It's just… my body hasn't quite caught up to that yet. And I don't quite know what exactly it is that you can do. I know…Leontes told me that your magic is elemental, but I'm not completely sure I know what that means or entails. I thought perhaps you could help me somehow." I can feel a flush building in my cheeks and it shames me that I cannot merely ask him for what I want. I do not even know if he is capable of it.

His eyebrows rise and his eyes widen. I can tell he is on the verge of laughing at me. I'm not sure I could take that, not at the moment. "You want me to…somehow get rid of your attraction to Guinevere? Your physical desire for her?"

"I do not know if you can do that with your magic, but I thought I should ask…"

The laughter goes out of his eyes and they darken. "Why now? Did you fuck her again when you two were on the road?"

I sigh and shake my head. "No. I didn't. We kissed, once. And I realize that even that was too much. It was wrong. Everything is wrong. I don't even want to want her anymore." I bury my hands in my hair and pull, trying to distract myself from this. I can't even believe I am asking this of him.

He examines me again. "I know of two ways to do what you ask."

I look up sharply, hoping against all hope. "Yes?"

He frowns, but there is a hint of his smirk playing at the edges. "One, I could deaden your desire in general, which is more of a bandage over a wound than an actual cure for the illness. Or, two, the desire could be replaced with another."

I frown. "What do you mean? Replace it with a desire for another person? And who would do the replacing?"

He smirks. "Yes, another person. And it would have to be a joint endeavor. It may take a while to settle and you might have flashes of desire for Guinevere in the mean time, but eventually the new desire would replace the old entirely."

"Who would be the replacement? Would it have to be someone that I already desire?" I am intrigued by this idea.

He nods. "Yes, you would have to desire them at least to a small degree."

I nod in return. "Would we have to tell this person? Would it need to be a three person secret?" I feel like a small child, asking such a silly question.

He laughs, but there is a sardonic, dark twist to the sound. "Unless you choose me, then yes, it will have to be a 'three person secret'." He rolls his eyes.

I can feel myself flushing darkly. He sees it and blinks. I look away, unable to meet his gaze anymore. What he suggested, even in jest, what I've been trying to deny since I saw him with my sister. Even though I now know that it was her drugs that caused the scene, I cannot seem to keep the image away. I seem them together and it fills me with rage and hatred for my half-sister that I never knew and a deep burning want that Kay would tell me was damned to Hell by God.

I understand this man better than any other person, I think, but there is so much about him that I do not know and that I do not understand, but it does not seem to deter my desire for him. I slip away from the present into my memories. Every time, I found myself lusting after Guinevere, it was following some mishap with Merlin. I fucked her…because I saw Merlin and Morgan together. I wonder…

I feel a hand on my shoulder and I blink myself back to the represent. Merlin is shaking me lightly. "Arthur!"

"I'm sorry, what? I was thinking of something."

He sighs. "I asked you if you wished me to do this?"

I blink a few more times, examining his face and come to a realization. "No…Actually, I think perhaps it's not necessary. I've just realized something."

He frowns deeply. "What?"

I offer him a half smile. "I never really wanted her to begin with, I think."

I push off from the table, against which I'd been leaning, and leave the library and Merlin behind. I had to find a way to control this myself, the misplaced desire, the revenge fuck. Before it tore apart the kingdom. Before it drove Merlin away.


	6. Mind Games

**Spoilers for 1x07 "The Long Night"**

**I love Morgan's character and I am sooooooo incredibly pleased that she's taken Igraine's place at Camelot. Camelot needs a strong woman around, since it doesn't seem to have any of its own. However, I don't see how she can do anything to Merlin (like the previews showed) without his little skin-to-skin vision trick kicking in. Hm….i guess we'll see.**

**All of these are unbeta'd**

**Anyway,**

**Mind Games**

"It's good to be home" I say and smile up at the broken peaks of Camelot. Merlin dismounts behind me and I can feel him come up next to me. Igraine is murmuring her ascent to my statement, but I pay her no heed.

The smirk that Merlin offers me, the secret little twist of his lips, promises so many things and the feel of his hand on my thigh sends sparks down my spine. I can feel the heat of his skin through the fabric of my trousers. His fingers, long and slender, are just high enough to curl over the top of my thigh and his thumb brushes at my hip. I bite back a groan of longing.

Does he know what he's doing with these casual touches? He sits too near and brushed against me. He slings an arm across my shoulders. He's always there, pushing my boundaries, getting into my personal space.

What I said to Morgan at the table last night was true; I had all the company I need. I did not need to fuck some dancing girl and I did not need a queen. I had a sorcerer instead and he was all I wanted. Does he know it? He seems to know everything.

I told Guinevere I loved her last night, but it came out all wrong. I do love her, but more as an annoyingly flirtatious best friend or an irritating younger sister, not as a lover. I am sure she did not understand. Her reaction was all wrong and she looked as though she were going to cry. I need to speak with her soon. But right now I am more preoccupied with what Merlin knows or does not know.

His words always border on sexual, filled with possible innuendo and sensuality. As are the motions of his body, especially when he rides. I would be willing to put him at the head of every column just to watch him ride.

I dismount and turn to enter the castle proper, but a hand on my shoulder stops me. Merlin's voice in my ear, "A word, if you please."

Kay comes up along side us, chuckling, and leans in. "Always plotting, you two. Should I be afeard for our future with you two in charge? The King and his Angel?"

I narrow my eyes at him and make a swing. Kay dances out of the way. Merlin must be in a good mood today, because he snaps his fingers and suddenly there is a small flame, no bigger than a walnut, burning on his thumb. I gape at him. I have never before seen such a blatant show of his magic. I can almost feel its power and it makes me shudder with want. He smirks at Kay and throws the fire at him. Kay yelps and brushes at his clothes, but the flame doesn't burn him.

I continue to gape at Merlin, who says, "Angel I am not. Whatever Leontes might think."

Which makes Kay laugh again and Leontes who'd come up to catch the end of the interchange flush darkly. "I still say that those powers are the will of God working through you."

Merlin snaps his fingers again and this time, Leontes is his target. Leontes' eyes widen and he merely stands, staring at the tiny flick of fire as it hits him in the center of the chest and dies out.

Merlin rolls his eyes. "You still act like children. Fire is fire. If it comes at you, not matter where it originated, get out of its way."

So saying, he swept passed us and into the castle. I finally manage to shut my gaping mouth. Kay is grinning at me. "Well, Arthur. Go on. Your Angel is calling you."

Leontes flushes again and I roll my eyes. "Brother Mine, you know that Merlin can probably still hear you, since he is probably waiting for me, yes?"

Kay pales and looks furtively over his shoulder. Merlin's voice emerges from the shadows. "Arthur is correct, Kay. Watch what you say."

I raise an eyebrow at the rhyme and follow him to the Library, which has become the site of many a meeting. Merlin shuts the door behind me and I am intrigued. I remember the last conversation we two had in this room alone and I swallow thickly. "You wanted a word?"

"I wanted several things actually, but a word will do for a start." Merlin is smirking at me again. I frown in confusion. "First things first. Igraine gave me some advice last night and I believe I shall follow it."

My frown deepens but not from confusion this time. I have seen the way my mother looks at Merlin and it makes me sick to my stomach. I have yet to figure out whether he looks back, but I find myself praying to every God willing to listen that he does not. "Indeed."

"Yes. Arthur, you need to understand about your sister. I said once before that all you needed to know was one word, the strongest thing you should take from your father. The same is not true of Morgan. She _is_ a sorceress, where I am not a sorcerer. She plays with very dark magics that I swore off decades ago."

I sigh and lean against the table. "Merlin, I understand that you do not like Morgan, but she is my sister—"

"No. Arthur. Listen to me. There are things that you need to know." I shut up and let him speak but he does not continue. He merely stands there, staring at me with this look in his eye.

"I will listen, Merlin. If you speak." I say after a long moment.

He shakes his head. "No. You will listen, but you will not believe."

I scowl at him. "When have I ever given you reason to believe that I do not trust you?"

Merlin laughs, a dark, harsh sound. He steps forward, placing himself between my spread legs, and raises his hands. He looks for a moment as though he would hit me, but instead he seizes my head in his hands and presses his forehead to mine. His hazel eyes, so close to mine, burn like the feeling of his skin on mine.

We stand like this for a breath and then the images begin. I see my sister as a child playing with her toys. Then a woman in the nunnery, then a nun herself returning to our father's castle. She is mixing poison now and feeding it to Uther. She is playing with magic to show off to Merlin as he lays tied to a bed. I let out the briefest sigh to see that he is fully clothed, before the picture changes again.

Image after image and I can barely keep track of them, but all of them show Morgan, not the loyal sister that she presents to me, but a wicked witch and a plotting traitor.

I am gasping, trying to keep up with what I am seeing. I am little aware of the room around me until I hear a voice gasp. I blink and Merlin's hands are gone, taking the images with them. I'm panting when I look up to find Leontes' shocked face.

"Arthur…what is this?" He asks me, but I do not have enough breath to answer. So Merlin does.

"It's magic, Leontes. You still think I am an angel?"

I can see the disgust begin to grow in my champion's eyes and the condemnation. I roll my eyes incredulously at Merlin. "Merlin, do you ever answer anyone directly when they pose a question to you? Ever?" I turn back to Leontes, who is gaping at us. "Leontes, Merlin was using his powers to show me memories, things I need to understand but can't seem to believe without proof."

The disgust and accusation dissipate and he nods. "I apologize for interrupting then. I will make sure you are not disturbed again."

I nod to him in return and he shuts the door. I hear Merlin snort softly and turn my gaze back to him. "Must you play games with everyone? Make everyone assume to worst of each other? Are you trying to destroy us?"

Merlin sneers at me, and expression I have rarely seen on him and never turned in my direction. I hold my ground and meet his eyes, even though it twists my gut. "Naïve Arthur. Leontes needs to realize that there is more in the world than his narrow view. Would it be so horrible to let him think what he thought? Somehow I didn't think you'd mind."

He was pushing again, testing, trying to prove something or force me to prove it. But I am sick of playing games. "No, Merlin. It would not have been horrible to let him think that we were fucking, if it were true. But as it is not, I thought to clarify the situation. He does not approve of that specific Greek practice and I don't think it is useful to have him believe it is the nature of our relationship, unless it was true. You play games with his mind all you want, but if you break him or if your drive him away, you will have to answer to me for it. I need him here and whole. He's my best knight."

Merlin's sneer had vanished as I spoke. Now, he tilts his head and examines me. He smirks. "Answer to you, will I? Well…that could be interesting. The issue of our…fucking, as you say, aside. Do you understand what you saw?"

I can feel it to my toes, when he uses the word fuck. It's delicious and erotic and catches me completely off guard. I gasp for a moment, before I can blink myself back to the present. "Y-Yes." I stutter, before I find my voice again. "Yes. Morgan killed our father. She is trying to kill me. Or at least remove me from the throne. And she is exceptionally dangerous."

Merlin nods, surprise flashing across his features for a brief moment. "Good. Igraine was right, you deserved to know."

I frown thinking back to the night before, when Merlin was free to have such a conversation with my mother, or this morning. This morning… "Merlin…did you…that is…I notice something this morning about Igraine…Something seemed…off about her on the ride back."

He smirks. "Yes. I noticed it too. We did not return with the Lady Igraine. I don't know where she is or who exactly is inside her skin, but I have a strong suspicion that there are still do Pendragons under this roof."

"Morgan? Can she do that?"

Merlin nods, turning to the window. "I believe she can. But we shall see. It may be the nun. I need to touch her skin to know for sure."

My gut clutches at this statement and my hand curls into a fist. Merlin smirks again, which I can see in profile. "Don't worry, Arthur. I have no true designs on your mother or your sister."

I am relieved for a moment, but then I frown. "Do you have designs on someone else then?"

He smiles, an actual smile, "You shall have to wait and see." He turns back to me, still smiling. He nods and leaves the room, leaving the door open. I turn to stare after him, worry mixing with hope in the pit of my stomach.


End file.
